Scout reveals West Brom’s embarrassment over Virgil van Dijk

Former West Brom scout Stuart Millar has revealed that he left the now Championship club after they failed to act on his recommendation to sign Virgil van Dijk.

Millar, 53, is now director of football at Stranraer, but he has revealed in his time at The Hawthorns he was briefed to keep track of Van Dijk’s progress while he was at Celtic.

Millar says he scouted the Liverpool defender 20 times and told boss Tony Pulis to sign him as he would double his money on the Dutch international in two years.

Van Dijk eventually signed for Southampton for £13million in September 2015, before Liverpool swooped to sign him in January 2018 for £75million.

Millar told The Scottish Sun: “In my time at West Brom, I had to watch van Dijk 20 times. That was my brief.

“I knew after 20 minutes that he was good enough to play in the English Premier League.

“I recommended him to Tony Pulis and said, ‘We must sign him’. I put on the report, ‘If we sign Van Dijk we’ll double our money in two years’.

“I got that wrong because it was about 10 times the value they got back.

“Unfortunately West Brom didn’t pursue that, which was frustrating on my part and ultimately why I left West Brom – because I was certain I was recommending a player who was top notch.

“I think it should be an embarrassment to every other club that watched him and didn’t pursue him.”

Millar ended his 10-month spell at West Brom in July 2015 and made the move to Dumbarton to become chief scout before moving to Stranraer.